Plate burner exposing a digital negative on Pt/Pd paper

All of my equipment and chemicals arrived last week, so I’m finally able to get started in the darkroom with platinum and palladium. So far I’m just doing exposure and calibration tests; nothing to report except that things seem to be doing what they’re supposed to be doing and that I’ve got a lot of work to do.

My wife and I went to Baltimore this weekend to visit friends (Mr. and Mrs. Curmudgeon), and I came across some great photography books in a used bookstore in Hampden. The copy of Winogrand’s Public Relations in the window drew me into the store, where I discovered two more fantastic books: The Photographic Art of William Henry Fox Talbot, and Unclassified—A Walker Evans Anthology. Needless to say, I bought all three.

Here’s my favorite photo from the Talbot book. This image is more than 150 years old and yet looks so modern to me:

Photo by William Henry Fox Talbot

We also made a quick side trip to Washington D.C. to see the Richard Misrach show at the National Gallery. The show is only open for two more weeks, I highly recommend it if you can make the trip. The next trip we’re making to D.C. is in January, when Robert Frank will be at the National Gallery, and Frank Gohlke will be at the Smithsonian. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for an Obama inauguration.